They Never Give Up
by Meagan Snow
Summary: Batman finds an active file at Cadmus on... Project Kr2! As chaos ensues, nobody expects what they see...


**This a little thing I did when I thought that YJ needed a Supergirl. Yes, Nina will join when she's older...**

Not again!

Conner's POV

I sit, watching the television. No, I am not watching television, per se, I am watching _the_ television. It isn't turned on. Either way, I am interrupted by Meg's sister, Tasha. I guess she's nice enough… Anyway, she runs into my room. The first thing she says is enough to make me want to smash something.

-"Conner, I have something to tell you. But first, you have to promise not to hurt anything or anyone in your vicinity, including yourself."

Darn.

She probably takes my silence for an affirmative because she tells me this:

-"Well, Batman just tele'd me and Meg, and…"

-"The thing is, they found a running file in Cadmus Labs on Project Kr2" says Meg, appearing from behind her sister.

-"They never give up, do they?" The elder Martian comments dryly.

-"You mean-"I begin

-"We are to go investigate." Tasha smiles, morphing her Mistress Martian costume. Essentially, it looks like Meg's, except all red with a blue-and-white X on the chest, ¾ sleeves, and a longer, pleated skirt. Meg follows suit. Literally.

-"Just the three of us?"

-"Four" comes a voice from outside. In strides a girl, a bit taller than me, who appears to be in her early twenties. She is wearing a Superman costume with a skirt, and has short yellow hair. I immediately recognize her from the memories Cadmus implanted in me.

-"You're Supergirl." I said, glaring at her. She is a known supporter of Superman. She even _dresses_ like him!

-"I am. Call me Kara, though" she smiles, seemingly completely unfazed by my glare, extending a hand. A bit surprised by her friendliness, I shake her hand. She smiles at me again and I can see that she really wants to like me, and she won't give up, no matter how unfriendly I am.

-"I guess I would be your aunt" she says with a grimace, "but I'm only barely older than you. So I would really like it if you regarded me as your cousin."

Tasha POV

Well, at least she's friendly. Overly friendly. In fact, she reminds me of a certain sister of mine… I hate to, but I have to interrupt their little family reunion.

-"Well, we have to get going, if we ever want to finish this mission." So we do, zeta-ing to the exit nearest Cadmus, Conner half-sulking and half-elated, Kara and Meg fully elated, and me thinking that I am stuck with psychos. The two of us Martians morph scientist-ish outfits and appearances; and the Supers following, as if on tour. Conner is wearing his regular outfit, and Kara is wearing khaki cargos and a white top. We manage to get far enough undetected, blending into a high-school field trip (so what if Kara is a little old? Nobody notices). At the place where we have to continue in secret, I disintegrate myself and ghost through the door, opening it for the others. The alarm starts to blare. Not good. Suddenly, we are attacked by guards. Actual guards, not Genos, like Meg tells me there were last time. Whenever we defeat one, there are always more to fill their place. It's like they never end. We manage to clear a path and continue down, with Conner in the lead. After all, he is the only one of us four who had been here before. We turn into another corridor, and a second, and a third, and then, before is a huge, steel door which Conner takes out as easily as if it was tinfoil. We run in, and he quickly shoves the door back into its hinges. I let out a gasp. There, suspended in a glass tube, is a small girl of no more than six or seven, with straight, jet-black hair and wearing a white jumpsuit identical to Conner's, when he first came from Cadmus.

Meg POV

She looks so sad, so abandoned, that without thinking, I hit the "release" button. Her eyes snap open, and I see that they are the clearest crystal blue, like Superboy's. In a flash, she dashes at me, and is held back by the force field Tasha has the good sense to erect around us. The Kryptonians try to catch her, to convince her that we will not hurt her, but she is fast. She manages to evade capture for some time. Then, I probe the little one's mind cautiously, and find that it is not her own. She is being controlled by some outside force. I shout,

-"Tasha! Her mind!" She seems to understand, because she calls out to the others,

-"Conner and Kara! Someone hold her in place!"

As they do, finally catching her (Conner landing on Kara in the process), my sister and I approach the flailing little girl as one, joined mind, and free hers of its bonds. The first thing our shared consciousness notices, before we again separate, is how blank her memories are…

Kara POV

I see the little girl suddenly stop struggling and look at us, eyes wide open. I let her up, and Conner takes my lead. I see her stand up, and begin to cry. I don't blame her. Conner, a strange mixture of feelings on his face, walks over to her and awkwardly places a hand on her shoulder. She takes this as a sign of friendliness and takes him around the waist, clinging to him as he looks very discomfited. After a few minutes, I see she calms down a bit and begins to ask questions, with which he tries to keep up with.

-"Who are you?"

-"I'm, er, Conner, and this is Kara, Megan, and Natasha.

-"Where are we?"

-"At Cadmus Labs."

-"Why am I here? I can't remember…"

-"We'll explain as soon as we can," I interject. The guards are breaking down the door now. "Right now, it's very dangerous here."

She nods, and I can see her trying to be brave. She follows us out of the door, still clinging to her "brother's" hand. We manage to cut a way through the enemies, thanks to the Martians' force fields, without further incident. However, we do see a janitor, muttering about how he always knew _el__niña_ would be more trouble than she was worth, anyway, as he shoots us a poisonous glare. That almost cracks me up.

-"_El__niña_," the girl repeats as we walk down. "Is that my name?" Okay, not good. She doesn't remember anything at all.

-"It can be," I reply. We walk the rest of the way in silence. When we get outside, I ask her,

-"Can you fly?"

-"Fly?" she asks, looking at me curiously. "I don't think so. Can you?"

-"Yeah, we all can except Conner." Conner takes this with a shrug, obviously quite indifferent to the fact that he can't fly.

-"So, we're walking," he said. So we do. We walk all the way to the nearest Zeta beam, half a mile away. I'm not tired, neither is Conner, the Martians are a little, but the girl is unreadable. She had grown more and more silent since we left Cadmus, and she hasn't spoken than that question about flying. She also hasn't let go of Conner's hand. As we enter the Mount, we are greeted by a worried rest of the team. I receive a buzz on my ear-com. Darn you, Batman_._ I smile at Conner and the girl and Zeta to Central.

Artemis POV

As Supergirl disappears, I see Conner and… Well, I'm not expecting what I see. I don't think anyone is. A girl, age six or seven, is clutching Conner's hand in hers and though her expression can be called impassive, I see the fear in her eyes. I can't help but admit that Conner is looking very self-conscious, but is held in the girls iron grip. Kaldur is the first to move.

-"I assume the mission was a success?" He is _way_ too formal. Meg nods.

-"Yes! It was. I mean, she's okay, right?" She tries to pat the girl's head, but the girl shrinks away. She seems scared of everything and everyone. The Martians walk over and stand next to me. The girl doesn't speak. I know better than to talk to her when she wishes to be left alone. I mean, what with Con, and even _me_, I know when people would rather be left be. I assume Kaldur understands that too, because he doesn't speak again. After a while, with Kid Idiot giving up on making small talk after I smack him, and Robin out somewhere with Bats and, I'm assuming, Kara, Conner and the girl sit on his usual couch. And as content as he usually is with the TV turned off, I can see that he wants to talk to her, because I see him glancing at her every so often, starting to say something, and cutting himself off.

Conner POV

What am I supposed to say to her? She doesn't want to talk, I see, but, well, aren't kids supposed to be happy and talkative? Gods, I am going to kill the founder of Cadmus if I ever see him. She's still holding my hand, so I guess that amounts to something. The rest of the team tries to unwind, but I can see them glancing at us uneasily. Finally, Kaldur has to ask,

-"Where is she sleeping? With you?"

I nod and the silence continues. Finally, we turn in when she falls asleep on the couch, curled up in a ball. I carry her to my room and set her on my bed. I'm apparently sleeping on the floor tonight. Fun.

Kara POV

I am exhausted after what went on today. First Cadmus, then some maniacal evil dude trying to wreck the place with thirty-foot-tall robots. But instead of coming home, I go to my cousin's house. He carefully hasn't said a word about Cadmus the entire day. To heck with doors! I fly in through the window and sit on his bed, waiting. Soon afterwards, he comes into his bedroom, his shirt unbuttoned and the 'S' showing through. He almost walks headlong into me, and even I must admit, his expression is quite funny.

-"_Gods,_ Kara, can't you ever use the _front__door_?"

-"Not a chance" I say mischievously. I can tell he's trying to avoid the subject of the girl who came home with us today. I cut to the chase.

-"Kal, about the girl…"

-"No" he says flatly. "I told you that with Conner and I'm telling you this with the girl. I'm not old enough for this kind of responsibility." Well I see red, I really do. I stand up to face him. I'm almost as tall as he is now.

-"You're ten years older than me," I tell him. "Fifteen older than Conner. And now, twenty-five older than the girl. Don't you think, are you really that deluded, that they are your responsibility, after all?"

Clark POV

I've never seen Kara this mad before. Maybe I should have said it more gradually. But to yell at me, to show me every flaw in my reasoning? She continues,  
>-"Maybe you're not old enough to take Conner. Okay! But the girl is <em>six<em>_years__old_. She _needs_ a father. And I think you're plenty old enough to take her in." Now, I'm mad, too.

-"Do you really think it's that easy? No wife, no nothing, and then, suddenly, a six-year-old daughter! What do you think that would look like! Don't you think Lois would look into it? You could be putting both of us in danger!" _You_adopt her then, if you think it's that easy."  
>-"<em>I<em>_'__m_ endangering both of us? _Me_? Look at yourself. Always in love with that Lois, who, in your own words, can bring us all to ruin! As for adopting her, I think I _will_." She says, her eyes flashing with a fire I haven't ever seen before. Then she left. What have I done? Now even _Kara_ is mad at me. I fall onto my bed and hit my pillow.

Kara POV

I return to my house- it's too late at night to go tell the girl the news. Before I fall asleep, I realize something- she doesn't know we're heroes, we were wearing regular clothes when she saw us… And the team, too… First thing in the morning, I dress in my secret identity clothes- Linda "Kara" Lee- and tele to the Mount.

Nina POV

I wake up in a strange bed, in a strange room. I look around and see the boy Conner sleeping on the floor. I must be in his bed. Oops. I sit up and get off his bed. I'm still in my white suit. I know I should get other clothes but I just can't make myself care. I think back to yesterday, when Conner and his friends were holding me down for some reason. At… Cadmus Labs. I don't remember anything before that, but I think Conner may be my brother. We look alike enough to be twins, or clones. I shudder and push the idea from my mind. Clones? What gave me _that_ idea? Conner wakes and turns toward me, giving me a smile. I haven't seen him smile yet, and it's nice. He lends me one of his shirts but I have to keep my pants on. His are way too big. We come down to breakfast and I am surprised to find Kara waiting for me. I stop around halfway there and she walks the rest of the way. She puts her arms around me and I can't help it, I hug her back. She seems so nice! She smiles at me and says,

-"Now- er, what's your name?" I think for a moment. What had the man with the broom called me? _El__niña_? That's a nice enough name, I decide.

-"Nina. My name is Nina…Kent." Kent is Conner's last name. She smiles again, but this time, her smile is tinged with sadness.

-"I think that's a great name. Now, Nina, what would you say if I adopted you?"

It seemed that the world had crashed down around me. I had appeared in Cadmus, with a few older kids and Kara somehow taking me away with many police men after them- no, me. Then, they took me to the place they called the Mount, where Megan, Natasha, and Conner apparently lived, and some other older kids spent a lot of time at. But now! Kara wanted to adopt me? Me? That told me a few things. Apparently I was an orphan. And why would she adopt me, but not Conner? Because she wasn't that much older than him, I guessed. I nodded my head, still in shock. She smiled once more, but this time, in pure happiness.

-"That's great! We'll get along just fine."

**Yeah, I know Kara is an incurable optimist here, but she does lose her temper at Clark. And if there's any confusion about the whole "Kal" thing, she calls Clark Kal (from his original name, Kal-El) and Aqualad Aqua or Kaldur. Hope you liked it!**

**R&R Please!**


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